ASD students’ needs - Module 2

2. CLASSROOM. THE REASON FOR THE ORGANIZATION

2.6. Talents and centres of interest in the classroom

To work on the centres of interest in the classroom of students with autism, mention must be made of Howard Garner's theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner sees intelligence as the grouping of different specific abilities and defends intelligence as a skill. Thanks to this model we can adapt to the intelligence model of each student with ASD, only teaching the same concepts but in a different way. He identifies eight types of intelligences:

  • Verbal - linguistics
  • Logical - mathematical
  • Corporal - kinesthetic
  • Visual - spatial
  • Intrapersonal
  • Interpersonal
  • Musical
  • Naturalist
Therefore, to develop the talents and centres of interest of students with ASD, we must find what really motivates them to work around it in the classroom. An example of this is if the student with ASD has a highly developed naturalistic intelligence, which is the ability to perceive the environment and make classifications, distinctions and manipulations between the different elements that make up the environment, we have to try to develop their centres of interest in the classroom through this intelligence so that the student feels motivated and has the desire to learn.